This, he says, is how he came to make "Sex Talk" -- a documentary focusing on marital sex in which several Egyptians divulge intimate details of their bedroom activities.

Masturbation, infidelity, sexual frustration and virginity loss are all laid bare -- as is the controversial subject of female circumcision, a practice banned but still widely carried out in Egypt.

The film features several anonymous interviewees talking honestly about their private lives.

Bayoumi's subjects all insisted on remaining anonymous, their faces cast in shadow. Even then, he says, it was hard to find suitable volunteers.

"I couldn't use all the interviews because when they sat in front of the camera, I couldn't get something real out of them. They were going around the issue."

These interviews are interspersed with the opinions of Egyptian sex experts and the views of embarrassed men and women asked on the street.

Bayoumi says he made a conscious decision to focus on marital sex to highlight societal "contradictions."

"Sex within marriage is legal and religiously accepted, so it's supposed to be free and without complications. But it has so many complicated issues -- it is not a free ground."

He maintains his film is not intended as a prurient expose of private sex lives, but as an attempt to counter a lack of information that can lead to abuse or Egypt's rising marital breakdown levels.

Nearly 40% of marriages in Egypt now end in divorce, according to Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. It's the highest rate in the Arab world.

Talking about sex is slowly becoming more acceptable in Egypt, though, through television and talk radio shows. But more needs to be done to remove the stigma, says Bayoumi.

One woman who is actively trying to get people to talk more about sex is Dr. Heba Kotb, a leading sexologist in Cairo who appears regularly on TV.

Kotb attributes 80% of divorce in Egypt to sexual problems. "In most cases couples simply don't know how to deal sexually with their partner," she said. "I provide the information -- this is right, this is wrong, you should do this."

"Often it is just miscommunication. The psychology of men is not understood by women and vice versa," she added.

In most cases couples simply don't know how to deal sexually with their partner.--Sexologist, Dr. Heba Kotb on Egypt's high divorce rate